Trucks, boats, automobiles, and other vehicles are commonly equipped with various signal communication devices such as radios for receiving broadcast radio frequency (RF) signals, processing the RF signals, and providing resulting audio programming to passengers.
In typical RF receivers receiving analog RF signals, such as, for example, FM and/or AM radio signals, the RF receiver has an antenna coupled to the receiver for receiving broadcast RF signals and providing them to the receiver. The receiver also typically includes circuitry for receiving the RF signals provided by the antenna, decoding the received signals to extract audio programming, and amplifying the decoded signals to provide audio programming to vehicle occupants. The receiver circuitry typically includes a tuner section and user controls that are configured to allow receiver users to tune in various radio stations located at various frequencies to listen to a variety of audio programming.
In order to improve the quality of the experience provided by a typical vehicle RF audio receiver to a user, vehicle RF audio receivers may include weak-signal processing circuitry to improve how the RF audio receiver processes received signals when the received signals are weak. Presently, weak-signal processing circuitry, if it is included in an RF audio receiver, is typically pre-programmed at the manufacturer, dealership, or auto service location to handle weak RF signals in a predetermined way. For example, at least one current vehicle RF audio receiver may be pre-programmed to operate in one of three modes, depending on the environment in which the user is expected to predominately operate the vehicle. The first of the three modes is typically configured to improve signal processing when the vehicle RF receiver is in a rural environment, and may be referred to as a fringe mode. The second of the three modes is typically configured to improve signal processing when the vehicle RF receiver is in an urban environment, and is sometimes referred to as a low-noise mode. The third of the three modes is typically configured as a default mode to be selected when neither an urban nor a rural pre-programmed mode is appropriate, and may be referred to as a standard mode.
The modes generally adjust the way the vehicle RF receiver processes received signals in order to improve the user listening experience, typically by adjusting blend points where various audio channels are blended together, high-cut points at which higher frequency components of audio signals are attenuated, and the levels of off-station noise at which the receiver mutes off-station signals. These pre-programmed settings may typically only be changed at a dealership by connecting a tool to the vehicle bus and/or RF receiver directly, and reprogramming the vehicle RF receiver to operate in a different mode.
What is needed is an RF audio receiver and method that conveniently allows dynamic switching among various low-noise audio processing modes without requiring a visit to a dealership or manual intervention by service technicians or users to switch among the various modes.